Removals to Brazil from the UK
Shipping to Brazil
Fast Secure Road & Sea
Full and part load
How do removals to Brazil from the UK work?
Removals to Brazil from the UK go by sea, in either a full container of your own or a part load that shares space with other households. We survey your home, pack and wrap everything, load it, handle the export paperwork at this end and work with a clearing agent in Brazil to release your goods and deliver them to your new address.
Brazil is a long sea route and a country where the paperwork matters more than the shipping. Most of the delays people run into are not the ship, they are a missing document or a deadline nobody mentioned. That is the part we take off you.
You get one coordinator from survey to delivery, and the same person answers the phone when you want to know where your things are.
How long do removals to Brazil take?
Your transit time is confirmed in writing on your quote, because it depends on the sailing schedule, the Brazilian port your shipment is routed through and whether you book a full container or a part load. A part load always takes longer, because it waits for the container to fill before it sails.
We would rather give you the real date for your booking than a range on a web page that turns out to be wrong for your route. What we will tell you plainly is which part of the journey carries the risk, and on Brazil it is customs clearance rather than the crossing.
Do I pay duty on my belongings going into Brazil?
Brazil allows used household goods and personal effects in free of import duty for someone moving there permanently, provided you have lived outside Brazil for more than a year and the goods are yours, used, and in reasonable quantities for your household. New items, and anything bought shortly before the move, are treated differently.
The conditions published by Brazil’s federal revenue service are specific, and three of them catch people out. You must have been outside Brazil for more than twelve months, and short trips back count against you: spending more than 45 days in Brazil in total during those twelve months can cost you the exemption. Your goods must arrive within 180 days of you entering the country on your visa. And clearance has to be started within 45 days of the shipment arriving, with you already in Brazil when it happens.
Quantities are judged against your household and your profession, so ten identical televisions will be questioned where two will not, and you may be asked for proof of purchase. Consumable goods are not treated as household effects at all, which rules out food, cosmetics, nappies and paint.
These conditions come from Brazil’s published customs guidance rather than from a figure we have invented, but Brazilian customs instructions are revised fairly often. Your coordinator confirms the current requirements with our clearing agent in Brazil before your goods sail, and we would always ask you to check anything date-sensitive with them too.
What documents do I need for removals to Brazil?
You will need your passport, your Brazilian visa or residence document, and a detailed inventory of everything in the shipment with values against each item. Our clearing agent in Brazil normally works under a power of attorney from you, which means you do not have to stand at the port yourself.
The inventory is the document that does the most work, and a vague one is the most common cause of a shipment sitting at the quay. Ours is built from the survey, so it is itemised properly before anything is packed rather than written out in a hurry at the warehouse.
You do need to be in Brazil before clearance begins. That is a real scheduling point rather than a formality, and it is why we plan your sailing around your arrival rather than the other way round.
Which Brazilian port will my shipment arrive at?
Most household shipments from the UK arrive at Santos, which is the largest port in Brazil and serves Sao Paulo. Depending on where you are moving to, Rio de Janeiro, Itajai or Paranagua can be a better arrival point, because the inland leg is often the longer part of the journey.
Brazil is bigger than you probably picture it. The drive from Santos to Brasilia is well over a thousand kilometres, and to the north east it is further still, so the port we route you through genuinely changes your delivery date and your cost. We choose it around your delivery address rather than defaulting to the busiest one.
Tell your coordinator the destination city and the access at the other end, including whether a full-size lorry can reach the building, and the routing is planned from that.
Can I send a part load to Brazil?
Yes. A part load means you pay for the space your belongings actually take inside a shared container rather than hiring a whole one, which is usually the sensible choice for anything smaller than a full house. It is the most common way people move to Brazil from the UK.
The trade-off is time rather than care. Your goods are packed and protected exactly the same way, but a shared container waits until it is full before it sails, so the date moves with the other households in it. A full container of your own sails when you are ready.
If you are not sure which fits, the survey answers it. We measure the volume and quote both, and you can see the difference before you decide. There is more on how shared loads work on our part load removals page.
Which parts of Brazil do you deliver to?
We deliver across Brazil, including Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Brasilia, Belo Horizonte, Curitiba, Porto Alegre, Florianopolis, Salvador, Recife and Fortaleza, as well as smaller towns reached by road from those cities. The southern and south eastern cities are the quickest to reach because they sit near the main ports, while the north and north east add a longer inland drive.
The southern and south eastern cities are the straightforward ones, because they sit close to the main ports. Anything in the north or north east adds a long inland leg, and that is worth knowing before you compare quotes, because it is the part a cheap-looking quote tends to leave out.
Where a full-size lorry cannot reach the door, whether that is a narrow street or a building with restricted access, the final leg transfers to a smaller vehicle. Tell us what the access is like and it goes in the quote rather than appearing as a surprise on the day.
What sets the price of removals to Brazil?
Four things: how much you are sending, whether you book a full container or a part load, which Brazilian port and city you are delivering to, and how much packing you want us to do. Access at both ends matters too, because a long carry or a narrow street takes more crew and more time.
Sea freight is priced on the space your belongings occupy rather than what they weigh, which is why the survey matters more than a guess over the phone. It is also why decluttering genuinely saves money on this route, more than on a short European one.
We quote in writing with the inclusions listed, so you can see what is covered and what is not. If something is excluded it says so, rather than appearing later.
Moving somewhere else in the Americas? We also run removals to the USA and Canada, and you can compare every route from our Americas destinations page. If you are sending less than a full household, part load removals explains how shared containers work.
Why people trust us with a move
These are not our words. They are our customers, on a review site we do not control.
- 4.6 out of 5 from 110 reviews on Trustpilot, rated Excellent
- Over 10,000 moves completed
- Typically replies within 24 hours, as shown on the Trustpilot profile
- Our own yard and storage at Riverside Industrial Estate, Fazeley, Tamworth
- Members of Approved Movers in the UK, and we only work with overseas agents who are members of BAR or FIDI
- Reviewing since October 2020, and still collecting them every month
From contact to collection everything has been really smooth. All emails were answered promptly. The three guys that came and collected our things were super friendly, helpful and extremely careful with our belongings.
Vanessa, May 2026 – verified Trustpilot review
Removals to Brazil: frequently asked questions
Do you handle customs clearance in Brazil?
Yes. We work with a clearing agent in Brazil who handles the entry on your behalf, normally under a power of attorney you sign before the goods sail. You do need to be in the country before clearance starts, which is a Brazilian requirement rather than ours.
Can I ship a car to Brazil with my household goods?
Vehicle shipping is a service we offer, but Brazil treats vehicles completely separately from household effects and the duty-free allowance for your furniture does not extend to a car. Ask your coordinator before you plan around it, and see our vehicle shipping page.
What cannot go in the container?
Consumables are the ones that surprise people: food, drink, cosmetics, nappies and paint are not treated as household effects by Brazilian customs. Aerosols, flammable liquids and gas bottles cannot travel by sea freight at all. Your surveyor will go through the list with you.
Can you store my things before they sail?
Yes, at our own yard in Staffordshire. That is often useful on a Brazil move, because your goods are not allowed to clear customs before you are in the country, so holding them here for a few weeks can be cheaper and safer than paying storage at the far end.
Do you pack for me?
Yes, and on a sea route of this length we would recommend it. Packing and unpacking are part of what we do, and professionally packed goods are also far easier to defend if you ever need to make a claim.
How much notice do you need?
The sooner the better on Brazil, because the paperwork runs to its own timetable and your goods have to arrive within 180 days of you entering on your visa. As a rule of thumb, start the conversation as soon as your move date is real rather than waiting for it to be fixed.
Is my shipment insured?
Cover is arranged against the value you declare, and the level of cover depends on that declaration and the terms in our agreement. It is explained in full in our guide to removals insurance, which is worth five minutes before you sign anything.